From Protester to Senator, FBI Tracked Paul Wellstone

From Protester to Senator, FBI Tracked Paul Wellstone

Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and his wife Sheila jog to their campaign bus after casting their ballots in their hometown of Northfield, Minn., Tuesday morning, Nov. 6, 1990. Wellstone defeated Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in the general election. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

It started with a fingerprint of a 25-year-old college professor who
opposed the Vietnam War and ended with a search for his remains, 32
years later, in a wooded area near Eveleth, Minn.

The FBI's files on Paul and Sheila Wellstone, many of which are being
made public for the first time, shed new light on the extent of the
relationship between the FBI and the political activist who would go on
to become a U.S. senator from Minnesota.

Some of the information uncovered in the 219 pages was new to one of his
closest confidantes, former Wellstone campaign manager and state
director Jeff Blodgett.

The files show that although the FBI initially took interest in
Wellstone as part of the broader surveillance of the American left, the
agency later served as his protector, investigating death threats the
freshman senator received for his views on the first Gulf War, and, in
the end, helping sift through the wreckage of the fatal plane crash that
killed Wellstone and seven others eight years ago.

Further

Lord, what would John Lennon have made of the Trump monster? Marking Thursday's 36th anniversary of Lennon's murder, Yoko Ono posted a plea for gun control, calling his death "a hollowing experience" and pleading, "Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace." With so many seeking solace in these ugly times, mourns one fan, "Oh John, you really should be here." Lennon conceded then, and likely would now, "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."